Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs Neo4j Graph Database comparison

Microsoft and Neo4j are both solutions in the NoSQL Databases category. Microsoft is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.3, while Neo4j is ranked #9 with an average rating of 9.0. Microsoft holds a 3.9% mindshare in ND, compared to Neo4j’s 5.1% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Neo4j users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Read 92 Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB reviews

604 Views
171 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Neo4j Graph Database

Read 6 Neo4j Graph Database reviews

708 Views
373 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Neo4j Graph Database

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Neo4j Graph Database and Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB both compete in the domain of data management systems, each focusing on different priorities. Neo4j has the upper hand in relationship-focused graph analytics due to its native graph technology, while Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is better suited for scalable, multi-model data environments due to its multi-model support and global distribution capabilities.

Features: Neo4j Graph Database provides native graph storage, excellent graph processing capabilities, and the ability to handle complex data relationships with ease. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB offers multi-model database support, global distribution with low latency, and high availability, making it ideal for organizations needing diverse data model support and extensive geographic distribution.

Room for Improvement: Neo4j Graph Database could enhance its support for non-graph data models and improve its initial scalability options for broader applications. It would also benefit from expanding its global distribution capabilities. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB may require easier configuration settings to simplify integration, a more intuitive setup process to lower complexity for new users, and improved cost-management features to optimize expenses.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Neo4j Graph Database is straightforward to deploy, with strong documentation and an active community. Its graph-focused use cases benefit from specialized support. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is integrated well within the Azure ecosystem, offering robust global distribution support. Its complexity may pose challenges, but its enterprise-level support offers significant advantages for larger organizations needing extensive backing.

Pricing and ROI: Neo4j Graph Database presents lower setup costs, capturing ROI from graph-driven insights efficiently. Its strong ROI stems from the advanced understanding of data relationships. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB involves higher costs due to its global scalability and multi-model capabilities but promises higher returns for large-scale operations that leverage these features, providing value through enterprise-level scalability and responsiveness.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. Neo4j Graph Database Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. Neo4j Graph Database

June 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Ranking in NoSQL Databases

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Database as a Service (DBaaS) (6th), Managed NoSQL Databases (1st), Vector Databases (1st)

Neo4j Graph Database

Ranking in NoSQL Databases

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the NoSQL Databases category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is 3.9%. The mindshare of Neo4j Graph Database is 5.1%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NoSQL Databases

Featured Reviews

MichaelJohn

Director | Data & AI at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Very efficient for application-facing scenarios

There are several areas for improvement. Firstly, having a local development emulator or simulator for Azure Cosmos DB would be beneficial. It would be very handy to have a Docker container that developers can use locally. Although, I know there is a free tier and so on and so forth, having a local environment would be nice. For example, SQL Server is very portable. You can even install it on your machine. That is the number one thing that is missing in Azure Cosmos DB. The second improvement area is the IDE of choice. That means how you interact with Azure Cosmos DB. For example, with SQL Server, you have SQL Server Management Studio. I know there is a little bit of support for Azure Cosmos DB in Azure Data Studio, but it is not heavily advertised or it does not feel like first-class citizen support. Developer experience or developer tooling is missing in terms of interacting with the database. Better developer tools or an IDE for interacting with Azure Cosmos DB would enhance the developer experience. Lastly, there is some mixed messaging about what Azure Cosmos DB is, given its multiple APIs. There are so many Azure Cosmos DB APIs available. There is NoSQL. There are MongoDB, Gremlin, and others. There is still some mixed messaging for others who are new to Azure Cosmos DB about what Azure Cosmos DB is. Is this like MongoDB, but then there is also MongoDB in Azure Cosmos DB? I know it well, and I know that the default one is just NoSQL, but others I have interacted with over the last ten years or so get confused.

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Raju Tsn

VP odfTechnology at Enterpi Software Solutions Private Limited

Delivers superior search and data aggregation capabilities

Neo4j helps with advanced search needs, providing good search results and aggregates compared to MongoDB. Aggregating with MongoDB can be difficult; however, with Neo4j, it's easier. Aggregating data, backing up, and creating new clusters are user-friendly from the back end. In DevOps web deployment, we noticed no database issues. We created Docker instances and set them up efficiently, managing databases up to 50 gigabytes.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is its real-time analytics capabilities, which allow for turnaround times in milliseconds."

"One valuable feature of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is partitioning. Its performance is very nice."

"Switching to the cloud significantly improved scalability, flexibility, and uptime."

"Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is very fast."

"The solution is extremely user-friendly and easy to navigate."

"Big data, along with data analysis, is one of the valuable features."

"The solution is user friendly and Microsoft's technical support is good."

"We value the replication and regional availability features that Cosmos DB provides. The replication includes read replicas and write replicas. The recent addition of vectorization and similarity comparisons add values for AI workloads. The performance and scaling capabilities of Cosmos DB are excellent, allowing it to handle large workloads compared to other services such as Azure AI Search."

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB pros

"The solution's best feature is how it differs from traditional SQL databases. It's hard to map people and find those near me in SQL, which requires long, complex queries. Neo4j Graph Database makes this easier with simpler queries. It also supports more data types, like JSON, which SQL doesn't."

"For now, the tool doesn't break down or stop, so it is quite stable."

"As a graph database, I am surprised at their performance and response time."

"Creates the ability to visualize outputs."

"Enables people to understand what the business problem is and how the technology helps."

"It is good for search-based tasks, providing solid search results and aggregate results."

Cons

"Continuing to educate customers on how they can take better advantage of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB without having to completely rewrite their entire application paradigm would be beneficial."

"Cosmos DB should continue evolving in AI features. We expect Cosmos DB to lead on that. There is potential for improved security features, which is important for data storage, especially for Dell Technologies. We must ensure data security remains the top priority."

"It would be ideal if we could integrate Cosmos DB with our Databricks. At this point, that's not possible."

"Overall, it is a good resource. I am not aware of the background, but it seems to currently support only JSON documents."

"The topic of RU consumption needs better documentation. Now that Microsoft has partnered with different LLM organizations, such as OpenAI, a bot could guide us through different metrics present in Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB."

"The size of the continuation token in Azure Cosmos DB should be static rather than increasing with more data, as it can lead to application crashes. They should use a static key size."

"There aren't any specific areas that need improvement, but if there were a way to achieve the right cosine similarity score without extensive testing, that would be very beneficial."

"The tool's pricing is expensive."

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB cons

"The tool could improve by having more resources, especially for Golang, which we use. It lacks good basic libraries and doesn't have an ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) tool, which many NoSQL databases have. We thought about building an ORM for the Neo4j Graph Database but are too busy."

"So far, we have not had any issues and are happy with the product in general."

"For me, when the tool was deployed on an on-premises model, it was a little bit difficult the first time."

"The only problem is that the community is quite small."

"There are concerns about performance and whether the tool can necessarily scale to provide the solution."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cosmos DB is a managed offering, so its cost is understandably higher."

"When we've budgeted for our resources, it's one of the more expensive ones, but it's still not very expensive per month."

"The pricing for Cosmos DB has improved, particularly with the new pricing for Autoscale."

"Its pricing structure is quite flexible."

"Cosmos DB is a PaaS, so there are no upfront costs for infrastructure. There are only subscriptions you pay for Azure and things like that. But it's a PaaS, so it's a subscription service. The license isn't perpetual, and the cost might seem expensive on its face, but you have to look at the upkeep for infrastructure and what you're saving."

"Cosmos DB is cost-effective when starting but requires careful management."

"Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB's licensing costs are monthly."

"The solution is a bit on the expensive side."

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB pricing and cost advice

"The tool is not expensive."

"The solution is open source so that you can use it for free. They also offer an enterprise version with its billing. If your company is earning well, I suggest using the enterprise version. Otherwise, you can deploy it on your own cloud and pay based on usage."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Legal Firm

14%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Energy/Utilities Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

The initial setup is simple and straightforward. You can set up a Cosmos DB in a day, even configuring things like availability zones around the world.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

It is cost-efficient as long as you understand the right setup to optimize usage. Knowing the data needs of the organization and adjusting the Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB usage accordingly helps save...

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What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

What is missing in Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is definitely cold storage. We know it's coming, but that's currently what is missing—the possibility to park older data in a cold tier. Aside from the ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Neo4j?

The solution is open source so that you can use it for free. They also offer an enterprise version with its billing. If your company is earning well, I suggest using the enterprise version. Otherwi...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Neo4j Graph Database?

The only problem is that the community is quite small.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Neo4j Graph Database?

We have used Neo4j in microservices. In one of the microservices, we used Neo4j since we have some requirements similar to MongoDB plus Elasticsearch. It performs both functions. Instead of doing t...

See all answers

Comparisons

Chroma vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 14% of the time

Pinecone vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 11% of the time

Amazon Neptune vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 6% of the time

Amazon DynamoDB vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 5% of the time

Neo4j AuraDB vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB Competitors

SQL Server vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 15% of the time

MongoDB vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 13% of the time

Cassandra vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 11% of the time

Aerospike Database 7 vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 11% of the time

InfluxDB vs Neo4j Graph Database

Compared 7% of the time

More Neo4j Graph Database Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

May 2025

Download Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB product report

Buyer's Guide

Neo4j Graph Database

May 2025

Download Neo4j Graph Database product report

Also Known As

Microsoft Azure DocumentDB, MS Azure Cosmos DB

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is a globally distributed, multi-model database service providing scalability, user-friendliness, and seamless integration, suitable for managing large volumes of structured and unstructured data across diverse applications.

Azure Cosmos DB is renowned for its scalability, stability, and ease of integration, offering robust support for multiple data models and APIs. Its capacity for handling unstructured data efficiently and providing real-time analytics makes it ideal for applications requiring high performance and global distribution. With features like automatic failover and integration with Microsoft products, users benefit from cost optimization and secure data handling. Enhancement opportunities include simplifying queries, improving documentation, and expanding backup and analytics functionalities.

What are the most important features of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

Scalability and Autoscaling: Efficiently handles growing data and user demands.
Multi-Model Support: Adapts to different data models seamlessly.
Global Distribution: Provides low-latency access across multiple regions.
Automatic Failover: Ensures high availability and reliability.
Integration with Microsoft Products: Offers seamless connectivity with Azure services.

What benefits should users look for in Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB reviews?

Performance and Speed: Exceptionally fast processing for real-time data analytics.
Cost Optimization: Tools for managing expenses effectively.
Secure Data Handling: Implements strong data security measures.
Flexible Data Ingestion: Supports diverse data ingestion methods.

Azure Cosmos DB is frequently used in sectors like web, mobile, IoT, and analytics. It supports applications as a key-value store, processes real-time data, and enables global scalability with low-latency access. Its big data management capabilities and integration with Azure services enhance its utility across industries.

Microsoft

Neo4j is the graph database solution allowing the analysis of complex relationships and patterns in data, leading to better decision-making and improved business processes. The graph database offers easy data integration from multiple sources, providing a more comprehensive view.

The most valuable aspect of a graph database is its performance and response time, as it does not use the join function and only has nodes and raw data. Overall, Neo4j, as a global first-ranking solution, has helped organizations become more efficient and effective in data analysis and decision-making processes.

Neo4j

Sample Customers

TomTom, KPMG Australia, Bosch, ASOS, Mercedes Benz, NBA, Zero Friction, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Kinectify

Walmart, Telenor, Wazoku, Adidas, Cerved, GameSys, eBay, Schleich, ICIJ, die Bayerisch, Megree, InfoJobs, LinkedIn

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. Neo4j Graph Database

June 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs. Neo4j Graph Database

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